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Science Market Update

Each year, Duke's Department of Medicine receives more than $130 million in federal research grants to fund basic, clinical, and transnational research. For the fiscal year 2015-2016 Duke University also received over $180 in private donations from individuals and various foundations to support their lifesaving research. An example of their success is a recent study conducted by Duke University researchers that may save patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib) from suffering from strokes.

Thus far in 2017, the University of California Los Angeles has received over $6.8 million in funding from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This funding has been awarded through multiple grants intended to support cardiovascular research.

The sciences of medical care, medical teaching and bioresearch at University of California, Los Angeles have received a boost in the form of an unrestricted gift of $50 million. Given to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA from the estate of Irma and Norman Switzer, the gift was announced Nov. 12 at a gathering of faculty, staff members, the school’s board of visitors and friends of the Switzer family.

Everyone wants to live healthier, if only to avoid the distress and danger of having serious problems like diabetes and blocked arteries. Unfortunately that's not always enough to get Americans to eat better, even when they know what's at stake. Last month a much publicized study in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that a "Mediterranean diet" is a clear winner for heart health, but try wrestling a steak away from a Texan with the lure of olive oil, nuts, and fruit instead. That's why University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (UTHSCSA) research scientist Reto Asmis is studying the biochemical basis of the Mediterranean diet with the aim of producing a food supplement that does what the healthy diet does without a wholesale change in our eating behavior.

The wordantibacterial is popping up on more and more household items as merchandisers find that consumers generally believe that chemicals designed to kill bacteria are a useful additive to a product and boost its appeal. Very often the chemical that's added is one called triclosan, and according to recently published research by a team of University of California Davis biomedical scientists, the common polychloro phenoxy phenol causes muscle impairment in animal and lab tissue models. Specifically, it limits the ability of the muscle to expand and contract. A beating heart is one example.

Led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the six-week MyHeartMap Challenge is a trial science research project that uses crowd-sourcing to locate and gather information about automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in Philadelphia. The challenge runs from January 31 to March 13, during which time participants can use a free app on their iPhones or Android phones to take pictures and document the location of publicly accessible AEDs in Philadelphia.